Culture effects in online social support for older people: perceptions and experience

Abstract

Technology in general and online support communities in particular can play a key role in the lives of older adults. However, these environments are not always well understood or are often misused. This paper reports an investigation of older adults’ perceptions and experiences of online social support and Web use in Cyprus. A discussion of the results from a similar study in UK reveals interesting differences on the various levels of uncertainty avoidance and collectivism in the two countries. The described research has a culture-driven design approach and aims to collect users’ perceptions of online social support and Web use. Qualitative analysis of interviews of three groups of older Cypriot users with different expertise in Web usage was employed. The findings of this study were compared to a similar study conducted with older adults in UK. The significance of this study lies in understanding better the role of beliefs embodied in a country’s culture and affects older adults’ perceptions of online social support and compares them with another culture.